D-backs still evaluating Zack Godley for role of fifth starting pitcher
May 17, 2017, 8:40 PM | Updated: 10:48 pm
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Godley watches a throw to the Detroit Tigers during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 10, 2017, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)
Fantasy baseball players might want to know more than anyone.
Diamondbacks fans might be completely satisfied watching Zack Godley perform, no matter if he’s a temporary stopgap as the team’s fifth starting pitcher, or if he clings to the role without it being officially named his.
Arizona’s leadership still remains noncommittal in naming Godley the permanent replacement for Shelby Miller, who is out for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
“He’s come up here and given us very, very good starts, a lot of dependability,” D-backs general manager Mike Hazen told Doug and Wolf Wednesday on 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station. “It’s hard for me to talk in absolutes when you go through a season like this. One thing that I think has been a strength of our club has been the utilization of our roster.”
The team’s depth has already proven sturdy with Godley among the Triple-A callups who have replaced injured starters.
Godley is three starts into his role, and he’s proven efficient some nights and capable of getting the job done on an off day.
He’s allowed just two earned runs in the last 13.2 innings pitched over his second and third starts, and showed grit getting through a performance Monday in which he walked five batters.
The right-hander has induced 25 groundball outs over his past two games. How?
“Just being able to establish my off-speed in the zone,” he told Burns and Gambo on Wednesday. “Being able to keep my pitches down and keep them in the zone has allowed me to keep guys off my fastball, and then that has helped induce so many more groundballs with my fastball and has helped just keep getting those bad swings.”
Arizona reportedly is no longer in the running to sign free agent pitcher Doug Fister, and Godley has made that fact easily digestible.
Godley will make the next start in the fifth man’s rotation spot, and he’s not worried about the team taking its time in evaluating his role on the MLB roster.
“I’m perfectly fine with it,” he said. “I mean, all I can do is take each opportunity that they give to me and take it one day at a time.”
It seems it is only a matter of time before the D-backs make a decision on Godley’s future as the starter.
On Tuesday, manager Torey Lovullo said Godley still has more to prove. But he’s done a lot of proving already.
“I still think Zack has to go out and perform and continue to perform,” Lovullo said. “We don’t want to anoint anything really at this point in time … but if this continues, we’re idiots if we don’t say, ‘Let’s give it to him, let’s continue to give it to him.'”
